Students of color voice concerns at Mwangi press conference

November 11, 1987

Students of color voice concerns at Mwangi press conference

Students put together a press conference at Mwangi to bring up pressing concerns facing people of color at Smith College. Their statement, which was printed in the Sophian the following day, centered around the daily racism that students of color on Smith campus faced, both individually and institutionally. Although several newspapers and television stations were informed of the press conference, only the local Hampshire Gazette and the Springfield Union sent representatives. After Veeneenea Williams, vice-chair of the N.A.A.C.P. at Smith, read the statement, there was a panel discussion where students gave their opinions on the recent Equity Institute report and talked about possible solutions for Smith’s problems around race.

The students of color statement can be found here.

The full Sophian article on the press conference can be found here (1, 7).

[Last updated on October 31, 2018]